Amazon’s Ring announced a new default encryption system for its security cameras and video doorbells on August 26, 2026, called TAKE — short for Throw Away the Key Encryption — designed to limit ongoing access to customer video, including by Ring itself and by law enforcement without a user’s consent, according to the company’s announcement and reporting from The Verge and CEPRO.
How TAKE Works
Under the new system, each camera encrypts its video using unique keys that rotate roughly every five minutes. A temporary copy of each key is held in what Ring calls a secure enclave in the cloud, long enough to power features such as smart alerts, video search and AI-generated video descriptions, after which the company says it permanently deletes its copy of that key. Ring has framed the approach as a middle ground between full end-to-end encryption, which would block many of its AI-driven features outright, and its previous architecture, which gave Ring’s cloud infrastructure more persistent access to footage.
Rollout Timeline
TAKE is scheduled to become the default encryption setting for all Ring customers worldwide in phases starting in September 2026, according to the company’s announcement.
Why the Framing Matters
The change follows years of scrutiny over Ring’s video-sharing practices, including a 2023 FTC settlement over unauthorized employee and law-enforcement access to customer footage, and comes as its former data-sharing partner Flock Safety faces its own wave of municipal contract cancellations over surveillance and privacy concerns. Privacy researchers note that because Ring — not an independent, published standard — designed the key-deletion process itself, customers still have to trust Amazon’s implementation rather than verify it independently, a caveat also raised by outlets covering the announcement.
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